Cataclysm
"They say that darkness swallowed the world, eating life and infecting the plants with a putrescence that lasted for countless ages... Were it not for the lifeblood of the everlasting tree, the world may have well and truly died forever, and we wouldn't be here, trying to save it again." ---Jenna, the Cheerful Druid The Cataclysm, a term only uttered in fearful whispers when the superstitious speak of the oldest legends in memory, refers to a terrible happening that ended the Human/Elf War and destroyed much of the life on the planet, sending all of its peoples into a dark age that persisted for many generations. It is responsible for much of the world as it is now, and though the planet has healed considerably, the world still bears the scars of that terrible day. Prelude The ancient empire of the human race had, after arriving in the Midlands, conquered much of the lands that the orcs and dwarves had been fighting fiercely over after their masters, the elves, had left the planet for the moon. After establishing their firm and unyielding dominance upon the land, the humans and their advanced machine armies built massive cities and forts across the land. Unfortunately, their rule was not fated to go unchallenged. The elves, masters of magic, returned from their lunar seclusion to strike at the humans. With a new terrible empress commanding and controlling them, they marched once more upon the green fields of their old home planet in grand armies from the Moon Gates in what they assumed would be a rather short military campaign, resulting in a flawless conquest and utter subjugation of the humans. They were wrong, and man surprised elf with his tenacity and resilience. Magic and technology clashed in great battles all over the Midlands, with both forces equally matched. The humans dug in and gave up no ground without great cost to the elven invaders, who were unable to anticipate and counter the unconventional tactics the humans had developed to fight them with. It wasn't until the advent of the Juggernaut class of Steamforged that the elves were truly outmatched. The elves retreated and signed a treaty with the humans, making them believe that the conflict was over and that victory had been achieved; another glorious triumph of the human spirit. Or so they had thought. The Cataclysm What the forces of man didn't anticipate was the Dark Witch's next move: a massive orbital bombardment of spells launched from the moon, shattering supply lines, cracking cities and forts and sending their armies into disarray. The elves, led by their dark queen herself, marched on the human capital. In the titanic clash that ensued, victory for the lunar conquerors seemed almost a certainty. That is, however, until a nameless human warrior wielding a magic sword stepped forth to oppose her. Charging the elven lines, he slew his way to her, where she mocked him. In this moment, when her magic failed to stop him, he pierced her heart with his blade, breaking her control of the elven armies. With her last breath, she declared that if she couldn't have both the earth and the moon, than neither the elves nor the humans could. Punishing both, the humans for opposing her and the elves for failing to achieve her goal, she destroyed herself and all around her by unleashing a torrent of dark, terrible magic that grew into a rolling, necrotic black cloud of consuming, evil energy that blanketed the entire world. The Cataclysm had come to be. The fog ate flesh, stone, metal, plant and seemed to siphon the life out of even the air. It destroyed nearly all remnants of the empire of man, wiping out their home continent as well, leaving it nothing more than a dangerous wasteland. Whatever life on the surface it did not kill, it changed or mutated. And when her work upon man and the world was complete, the black tendrils of the fog reached up to blight the moon as well, stripping the home of the elves of their great works and glass cities. This great arm of fog solidified into a solid chain, forever linking the earth and the moon together, in what philosophers and historians alike believe to be a symbol of both races' shared suffering at the hands of the Dark Witch. Aftermath With the two most powerful empires destroyed and their homes ruined, the fate of the world seemed grim. For a very long time, the world was ruled by death and wasteland. However, in addition to the many small pockets of life that escaped the Cataclysm, one single tree in the northwest corner of what had once been the Midlands contained enough primal power to resist the life-eating black magic it had unleashed. This massive tree spread its roots far and wide, giving life back to the world that had nearly died. Around it sprung a great forest, and life spread from this sprawling woodland back into the Midlands. The Cataclysm had a distinct effect on many of the landscapes surrounding the Midlands. A massive stretch of land to the southeast had been permanently altered into a bubbling, dangerous swamp, thick with the evil energy of the Cataclysm and the creatures it mutated, along with legions of undead, now ruled by an evil king returned to life. To the west, a [Sea|massive desert formed, now the home of the more secular groups of orcs. In the northeast, a massive series of canyons and rocky badlands was born, ruled by wind, heat and deadly monsters. And in the north lies the great plains of tundra, where it always snows and is the home of the hostile warrior-race of the Frostborn. And somewhere, far to the west, [Island|an island with great, sweltering jungles, home to the Amazon race. But across the oceans of the world, the original homeland of the humans still remains a wasteland, legendary and shrouded in mystery. Civilization has slowly returned, but buried deep beneath the ground are remnants of the old empires that once ruled and fought for control of the planet. Who knows what secrets of lost magic and ancient technology they might contain... Category:Lore